…to talk about Obama’s plans for speaking tonight from Iowa in light of Senator Kennedy’s diagnosis. But it just underscores the point I was going to make already. This is a night for him to be respectful, both to Senator Clinton and to the primary process.

That means waiting until the 11 PM Eastern poll close in Oregon to speak, and treading very lightly on the point about clinching the pledged delegate count. Obama could consider speaking earlier than that — technically, he will probably clinch the pledged delegate count by way of Kentucky as the networks update their delegate projections throughout the evening. But to do so would look doubly presumptuous, as he’d both be appear to be taking credit for an Oregon victory that hadn’t happened yet, and for a pledged delegate clinch that is really just a milestone on the way to an overall delegate victory.

Nate Silver is the founder and editor in chief of FiveThirtyEight. @natesilver538

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